Without a Trace
by Sprah9492
Summary: Mack has never been the type to do more than what's necessary, not on the Ark, and definitely not when she gets to the ground.
1. 1

Mack sighed, taking in the world before her. In the span of 24 hours she had gone from living her life in grey to this. This beautiful expanse of greens, blues, browns. Everything was so vibrant she barely felt worthy of seeing it.

She had only been in the skybox for a year, long enough to turn 17, long enough to break up with her long time boyfriend, long enough to grow bitter at the circumstances that lead to her arrest.

One thing she had no complaints about however, was her cellmate, who just so happened to be her childhood friend Rodrigo Mesa.

So there they stood, hand in hand, taking in Earth.

"Never thought we'd see this in person, Rod," she said, her breathy voice barely above a whisper.

He squeezed her hand as his only response. The olive skinned boy looked at his best friend, wishing that she knew she was just as exhilarating as the sight before them, but, as always, not wanting to risk their friendship.

The delinquents around them barely fazed Mack. She knew they'd have to start working to make shelter, get food and water, and decide on leaders soon enough, but she felt no need to be the one to instigate it.

However, it seemed the leaders were already working themselves out. Mack and Rod were far enough from the group to not hear what was being discussed, but she clearly recognized Bellamy and a blonde girl, along with Wells Jaha fighting over something.

She had to fight the surge of rage she felt seeing the man, clad in the familiar guard get up.

"Come on, let see if we can't set up a tent for ourselves," Mack said dreamily to her closest friend.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan, Macka," and with that the two separated, already knowing who was going to do what. Rod set out for tarp in the dropship, while Mack made her way to the outskirts of the clearing in search of some sturdy sticks to hold up their tent.

A group had set off already, apparently looking for food at some mountain Mack had heard while eavesdropping on some kids. She spared a glance at Bellamy, who was staring into the woods.

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Mack continued her search until she was satisfied with her bounty, when she felt the presence of her friend.

"Things are getting pretty crazy, huh?" He asked her.

"Yeah, seems like it. Now be useful and pass me that rope. I'll set the foundation, you get the tarp on there once I'm done."

"Aye, aye cap'n"

Another eye roll and thirty minutes later, and the pair had built their new home. It wasn't much, and there was nothing for them to make beds with, but it would do.

Side by side the pair walked to a fire where the others were gathering. Bellamy and Wells were arguing about the wristbands all the delinquents had, which ultimately ended in a loud chant of "Whatever the hell we want!" Surely to be heard for miles.

Mack just couldn't stop glaring at the freckled boy. In truth he probably hadn't earned her hatred, but that wasn't going to stop her from feeling it. As the sky opened up with rain he scanned the crowd and found the familiar red head with regret in his eyes.

"Come on Rod, I can't take this dick measuring contest any more," she growled when she noticed the soft, sad look in Bellamy's eye. Her quiet friend just nodded and followed her back to their tent.

This was how their friendship had always been, Rodrigo was always a quiet boy. When they had met in school Mack had noticed him sitting by himself with a lonely look in his eye and had basically informed him that they were now friends. He was just happy to have a friend, he didn't mind her bossy, yet lazy ways.

"I saw the look Bellamy was giving you, Mack. He seems sorry," he tested the waters.

"Sorry won't fix the fucked up shit that happened. And he's got some nerve to feel any kind of way at all," Bellamy Blake could burn in Hell for all she cared.


	2. 2

_"Mama, daddy, I volunteered for something today," a sixteen year old Mack started nervously. Her parents were in their apartments kitchen, cooking and chatting about their days at work._

 _Her father, Connor Espinoza was a big man, tall and wide, with hair redder than hers. He worked in farm station in Agro and was one of the funniest, most laidback person Mack had ever met._

 _He was the complete opposite of her mother. Tiny and blonde, Sam grew up in factory station, she grew up in one of the poorest families in the Ark. She grew up rough, but found her way to Connor when she was 22 and never looked back. She had always been strict on Mack, forever frustrated by her lazy daughter, but she had always meant well._

 _Which was probably why Mack had gone and done the one thing she never saw happening._

 _The guard was desperate for new faces. As a way to promote their career field, under Chancellor Jaha's order, the began a new program to give the younger kids a chance to see what being a guard was all about._

 _"Starting tonight I'm a Junior Cadet. I figured it'd make you guys proud or whatever," Mack hadn't planned on this, her friend Bailey had said she signed up, so, naturally Mack did too._

 _"What?" Her mother's shrill voice rang out, at the same time as her dad's "That's great, kiddo!"_

 _That was all Mack needed. She knew her parents, more of a divided front than a united one. She rolled her eyes, "I've got training tonight, I'm going to get changed and head over. Love you guys."_

 _She also planned on hitting Kyle's apartment beforehand, but they didn't need to know that. Things between the two were rocky, his career demanded more of him, and his jealousy didn't help._

The morning came too soon for Mack. The thin tarp between her body and the hard earth made sleep difficult. It didn't seem to bother Rodrigo though, he was softly snoring on his side of the tent, deeply sleeping. _Figures,_ she thought with a sigh.

She combed her fingers through her red tresses, disgusted by how it already seemed to be greasy and knotted from the rain last night.

Figuring there had to be a stream out there somewhere, Mack slowly crossed the camp. Bellamy had just exited his own tent, leaving the flap open to reveal a half naked girl pulling her torn shirt on. Mack ignored the pang of jealousy and hurt she felt at seeing the girl and tried to slip by him unnoticed.

On top of his usual dick-ish behavior, he was seemingly the leader of this camp, and she did not want to deal with explaining to him where she was going.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Mack had to hold back a groan. "Away from you, asshole."

But as she went to walk away, Bellamy's hand wrapped around her wrist. "You can't go out there alone, we don't know what's down here, Mackie."

"You have no right to call me that," Mack growled as she ripped her arm away, storming out of camp.

After an hour of walking, she made a terrible realization - she had no idea where she was going, or which way was the way back to camp. Her stubbornness drove her further until finally the trees thinned out to reveal a river with a bridge going all the way across.

Mack sighed and began stripping her clothes, tossing them lazily to the side. Once she was just in her tank top and underwear she stepped into the water and sat not far from the rocky shore.

She was amazed at how great the water felt on her, not to mention the sheer beauty of it all. It was almost enough for her to not notice the group of people across the river.

There were three men and a woman, big with tanned skin and all muscle. She barely noticed their weapons before jumping up and running, clothes in hand as an arrow lodged itself in a tree to the left of her.

Heart racing she ran through the woods, only vaguely recognizing the trees surrounding her. She stopped briefly to dress and continued on her way. She ran until she was out of breath, lungs on fire, and an ache in her legs. She slid down a tree, gasping for air.

Finally collecting herself, and satisfied that she wasn't being chased - surely she'd hear them by now, right? - she gathered herself and scanned her surroundings. She could just barely see the glint of metal in the distance and collected herself before walking off towards it.

Only a few minutes had passed until she reached the dropship, but it felt like a week to her. Mack was still freaked out as she made her way to her tent, she didn't notice Bellamy's worried glance.

"What happened to you?" Rodrigo harped, "where were you? I was worried! Hell, Bellamy was about to send out a search party!" He rushed to her side and grabbed her face in his hands, eyes scanning her for any injuries.

"I was just washing up at a river." She started shakily, "Rod we're not alone."

He took a minute to consider what she had said. There was absolutely no way anyone could have survived the bombs, she had to have just seen something. "Macka, are you sure?"

"They shot an arrow at me, Rod!" She couldn't believe her best friend, when had she ever lied to him?

He took in her scared expression and immediately regretted asking, "I'm so sorry, Mack," he hesitated, "Maybe we should tell Bellamy about this. He and Clarke should know."

"I'm not telling him anything. I'll just wait until blondie gets back."

But it wasn't long until Clarke got back, and she had the same news as Mack - they weren't alone, and their new "friends" weren't so friendly.


	3. 3

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNING - self harm.**

 _Outside her boyfriends apartment, Mack sighed before looking both ways down the hallway, making sure no one saw her enter. She knocked lightly on his door, silently wishing that for once he'd let her in quickly._

 _After about two minutes he let her in. He was about as punctual as she was active._

 _Once the door was shut he embraced her in a huge bear hug, kissing the top of her head, "Hey, baby! What's up?"_

 _"Just came to see your dumb face for a little before my first day of training," she grinned up at him before stretching on her tip toes to peck him quickly on the lips._

 _"You know you love me."_

 _Mack's smile faded. "I do," she said quietly, not wanting to get into this argument yet again. It drained her energy, and she still had things to do._

 _As if he had read her mind he tended up. "Look, we don't have to talk about it, Mackie. I just wish we could stop sneaking around."_

 _"Why? So you can get floated?" She practically growled._

 _He shrugged cockily, "They aren't going to float me, they need me. I'm a god."_

 _"God or not, you're twenty one, Wick. You're not above the law," she sighed. "I don't have time for this, I have to go."_

 _Ignoring his small protests, she walked out of his apartment, not caring this time if anyone saw her. If he wanted to get floated he could for all she cared._

 _Mack made her way to Alpha station slowly, doubting her decision. This was going to be a lot of effort, she knew, and she also knew she was possibly the laziest person on the Ark. She shrugged herself off. Everyone knew once you were an established guard you had enviable hours, and a nice apartment in Alpha, where she could doze her days away._

 _Standing in front of the door that would make or break her dreams, she sighed. "Here we go."_

Mack paced the tent. Rod had gone off, probably doing some sort of chore for Bellamy and Clarke, so she had the place to herself. When Clarke had returned, sans Jasper, Mack felt guilty. What if she could have done something?

She had grown up in Agro. She was never extremely close with Monty and Jasper, but they were friends. Their relationship was an odd one, stemming from her crush on Monty. Almost four years ago the boys had thrown a party in an abandoned compartment, and the alcohol was flowing.

Rod had forced her to go, but she hadn't put up much of a fight. If there was moonshine involved Mack was there.

The two boys had welcomed all of their guests with vigor, and Mack was loving it. After a few drinks she had shamelessly flirted with a couple people. Boys, girls, she didn't discriminate, it was just her personality. And one of those people happened to be Monty.

Ever since, she would joke with the boys in the halls and in class. They became quick friends, but had different cliques, so their time together was limited.

So, naturally, it hurt her deeply to know that Jasper could be out there alone, possibly even dead. She had seen the Grounders, and judging by the arrow that had luckily missed her, they weren't trying to make friends.

Her pacing became faster as she ran threw all the scenarios. Her hand found the outside of her elbow unconsciously, one of her worst habits. She had tried when she was younger to stop, but it seemed she did it without even thinking about it. Her fingers dug into the bony skin, scratching away until she felt the warm, sticky blood on her fingertips.

"Damnit." She cursed out loud, unable to stop her scratching. She had to do something, anything.

Mack made her way to the dropship quickly, desperate to help in any way that she could. Jasper was lucky he was her friend, otherwise she may have just continued her day like nothing was wrong. She had to climb to the second level to find his other half.

Guilt in her eyes, she slid next to Monty on the bench he was fidgeting on. "Hey, Mont," she barely whispered and she sat close, leaning her head on his shoulder. She bit her lip, her hand still working on her elbow.

Monty gently grabbed her hand, keeping it tightly in his. He was one of the first people to notice her habitual scratching. "He's gonna be fine, we're gonna go get him, Red, don't worry," he comforted her with soft eyes.

She elbowed his side lightly, hating the insanely unoriginal nickname. "I'm gonna come with, I keep feeling like it's my fault. I can't just let Jas go."

"I know," he trailed off, the guilt of running away after his best friend had been speared eating at him.

Clarke rushed into the dropship, gathering supplies and backup. She had had the same idea as the pair on the bench and was preparing to go rescue the shaggy haired boy. She moved to the third level while Mack and Monty went down to the first, getting ready to go.

Wells brushed past them, clearly on Clarke's trail.

Monty moved around Mack as she stood there, a new fire in her eyes. She hadn't had a backpack or anything to bring supplies in, so she just waiting for Clarke to come down.

She didn't have to wait for long, Clarke descended the ladder, arguing with Wells. Monty had convinced her that Wells was needed, but she refused to let Monty go, with some bullshit about food and communication as her excuse. Mack rolled her eyes, "I'm going, no matter what Blondie has to say about it, Mont, I'll get him."

She wrapped her arms around her friend and left the dropship with a glance back at him. A boy with long brown hair pushed past her, unhappy about the rescue plans. Mack felt her jaw clench in anger as she listened in, waiting for the search party to emerge.

As soon as Wells and Clarke came out Mack was on their trail. Following quietly, she cursed to herself as they approached Bellamy and who Mack could only guess was his sister. She hadn't had the pleasure of meeting the girl before she had got arrested, unknowingly, because of her.

While Clarke spoke to Bellamy, convincing him to come, Mack stood back with Wells.

She looked up at the angry boy, "Just so you know, I hate this too."


	4. 4

_Training was hard. Well not exactly difficult, while Mack was always athletically inclined, she just hated doing anything that took effort. And, boy, did training take effort._

 _They had basically had a quick meeting at first, laying out how the Junior Cadet program would play out. After that was an obstacle course of sorts, then some cool down workouts._

 _Being the smallest, and also one of only two girls that had shown up, Mack was the butt of a lot of jokes. She had proven herself on the obstacle course, but that had done little to settle the boy's egos._

 _After all the instructors and other junior cadets had left Mack stayed behind. The stress that was Wick, on top of the endless teasing she had endured the last three hours had gotten to her._

 _So there she was, sloppily throwing angry hits at a punching bag. She didn't care for form right now, she just cared about picturing everyone's face and hitting it as hard as she could. She was so focused on this task that she hadn't even noticed the door open._

 _Bellamy chuckled at the strange girl. She was short and thin, he didn't think any of her punches had much power behind them, even if she had been in the correct stance._

 _He cleared his throat, "You're not going to do any damage like that."_

 _Mack jumped and turned quickly. She wasn't entirely sure if she was allowed to be here this late. She had permission to stay behind for a little, but had lost track of time._

 _She looked the boy up and down, what did he know? She rolled her eyes, "Whatever," and turned back, completely focusing her anger to the punching bag, not paying attention, or caring for that matter, to the intruder._

 _Bellamy smirked, this girl had an attitude. He walked up behind her and put his hands on her hips with the intention of helping her form._

 _Mack whipped around and punched him square in the chest, not putting her full weight behind it. He simply shook off her hit, "Easy there, Tiger. I'm just helping your stance," he told her with a smirk._

 _Mack rolled her eyes again. What was it with people thinking she had no idea how to do anything? But she nodded at him and turned around, allowing him to do what he thought was helping._

 _She couldn't help the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach as he gripped her hips again, tilting them so she faced the punching bag at an angle. Instead of letting her do the rest, he ran his hands up her sides to her ribs to set her up. Mack had to shake off the blush, before smirking at him._

 _"This would be great and all, but I'm a lefty, smartass," she brushed his hands off and switched her stance, throwing a couple punches once she was comfortable with her form._

 _"She's feisty,_ and _a southpaw," he mused at her, laughing slightly._

 _"She has a name," she pouted._

Mack walked in the middle of the group, trudging along between the two pairs. The boys were gaining on Clarke and Wells quickly, effectively sandwiching Mack between the four of them. They clearly had a plan, which irritated the little redhead, they didn't have time for bullshit.

"Hey, hold up," Bellamy called, holding his gun up, "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart."

"Put the gun away, Bellamy," Wells was ever so quick to protect his Blondie.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him, if the spear struck his heart he'd of died instantly," Clarke defied, "it doesn't mean we have time to waste." She went to turn away, but Bellamy was quicker.

"As soon as you-" Mack's first collided with his face. She wasn't up for the petty argument that was about to take place. If she wanted to waste time, she would've stayed back at camp.

"Jesus, Southpaw. What the hell was that for?" He mumbled, taken aback. It had been a long time since she had first hit him, and he had grown comfortable then distant. It was easy to underestimate the short girl. Murphy moved to hit her back, but Bellamy blocked him off.

Clarke finally distanced herself, beginning to walk off back in the direction to Jasper when the broody brunette revealed himself.

"Lets go, Princess, we don't have time to waste," he smirked at the blonde.

He took charge instantly, having the group split up. Unfortunately that move left Mack with Murphy.

The two of them fell in step easily, neither of them feeling particularly up for conversation. Mack could hear Bellamy and Wells talking behind them, but she paid them no mind, instead thinking about Bellamy calling her her old nickname.

It was refreshing, but she was still angry with him. And on top of that, her knuckles were itching with pain.

"That was one hell of a throw back there," Murphy commented, eyeing her as she shook her hand out.

"Yeah," was all he got back though.

Silence fell over the two again as they hiked on, the heat nearly suffocating both of them. Mack removed the light hoodie she was wearing and tied it around her waist. It was a huge relief to the heat, but it did make her slightly uncomfortable being in only a tank top around Murphy.

The two kept going almost missing Clarke's call. They looked at each other briefly, both of them seemingly annoyed by the blondes existence before going towards her voice.

As everyone regrouped, it became clear what was going on. They were following blood. Jasper's blood. The thought chilled Mack, but she tuned everyone out as they walked. She completely missed the noise that had everyone on edge and was surprised when she heard Clarke suggest Bellamy get his gun out.

Still they continued to follow the noise, and as they reached a clearing Mack stopped dead in her tracks.

There he was, tied on a tree with a giant gash in his chest. She couldn't bring herself to go any closer, completely frozen in fear and guilt.

The group walked around her, and Clarke made a dash for the boy. Mack let out a gasp as the ground gave out below her. She had to hold back a sarcastic one though when Bellamy was the one to save her.

She still didn't move as Murphy and Spacewalker began to climb the tree to get her friend, lost in her thoughts.

Her attention was torn though when she heard Clarke yell for the gun. She frantically scanned the area before seeing Wells shoot a giant black... cat? It hesitated but continued towards the group that was left on the ground. Mack closed the distance between her and the others, subconsciously inching towards the familiar tan boy.

The shrubs around them shifted, and Mack's breath was caught in her throat. Bellamy pushed her back gently as the bushes stopped moving, unknowingly placing her in front of the cat.

Mack's eyes widened as she turned, the cat roaring and jumping straight at the pair. Pain shot through her arm as the cat's claw locked on, getting caught on her wristband.

She was sure she was going to die and was surprised when she realized the cat's body was completely limp. She looked to Wells and saw the smoke rising from the gun. Bellamy was back on his feet behind her, and the two behind them were still.

"Now she sees you" he muttered to the darker boy before moving towards Mack. She waved him off, trying desperately to dig the claw out of her arm from underneath the wristband.

Bellamy crouched besides her, shooting her a sympathetic look before brushing her hand off and grasping onto the beast's paw. "This is gonna hurt," he told her.

She looked at him confused, but instantly understood as he snapped her wristband with its claw, ripping both the claw out and her wristband off. Wincing, she took her jacket and wrapped her arm tightly, whispering a thank you to Bellamy.

Murphy and Finn scrambled down the tree, Jasper in tow, a quick reminder that the group still had work to do.

The boys had rigged up a stretcher for the cat, and Finn and Bellamy grabbed Jasper. Without so much as a word they all headed back to camp in silence.


End file.
